(March 25, 2008) Even the Chinese government suspects the massive dam may cause significant environmental damage.
Vietnam will suffer electricity shortages until monopoly removed, says energy industry leader
(March 20, 2008) We need to create a real electricity market and remove the monopoly," Vietnam Energy Association Chairman, Tran Viet Ngai, said earlier this year in response to the country’s chronic power shortages. "The biggest problem right now is Electricity of Vietnam controls all the generation, distribution and investment."
THREE GORGES ORAL HISTORY SERIES: Absence of Justice: Lu Chengming’s Struggle for Compensation
(March 18, 2008) On November 18, 2002, the government of Dachang Zhen (Great Prosperity Town) in Wushan County, Yangtze River, sent the following dispatch about the wharf and the house belonging to Lu Chengming, who was to be relocated.
China’s environmental regulator urges crackdown on Three Gorges polluters
(March 12, 2008) China’s State Environmental Protection Agency has urged citizens and corporations to take legal action if threatened by water pollution in the Three Gorges dam area.
Olympics water diversion scheme starts this month
(March 11, 2008) To ensure Beijing has enough water for the Olympic games this August, about 300 million cubic metres of water will be diverted from Hebei province starting the end of this month, according to China Daily.
British insurance broker awarded Three Gorges contract
(March 11, 2008) A London-based insurance broker, Willis Group Holdings, has been awarded a two-year contract as the insurance consultant for the Three Gorges project, according to Joy Shaw, correspondent for MarketWatch in Shanghai.
Olympics water diversion scheme threatens millions
(March 11, 2008) Former communist party chief An Qingyuan told FT that the diversion of water to Beijing for the Olympics and for big hydropower projects threatens the lives of millions of peasant farmers in China’s north-western provinces.
Why Aren’t We Developing Faster?
(March 4, 2008) According to Paul Wolfowitz, former President of the World Bank: World Bank’s beneficiary countries that do not have access to capital markets mostly “remain poor because their political system is unstable, private property rights are very limited, the judicial system is weak or subservient, or the Government is corrupt” and assistance to such countries “at best provides relief [and] at worst supports corruption or programs that waste scarce local and external resources”.
NGOs’ letter to Ban Ki-Moon about odious debts
(February 29, 2008) A letter from NGOs to Ban Ki-Moon regarding external debt.
Fragile Three Gorges: Caijing magazine reports
(February 20, 2008) Chief engineer of the Three Gorges Reservoir Area Disaster Control Headquarters says the number of landslides and collapses in the dam’s reservoir area have nearly doubled between 2001 and 2003, reports Caijing magazine.
Three Gorges transmission lines down amid power shortages
(February 20, 2008) Heavy snowstorms felled three power transmission towers along a majorline of the Three Gorges dam, disrupting a link in central China’s transmission system, Xinhua news agency reported last month.
Up the Yangtze gets rave review from Dai Qing
(February 14, 2008) Probe International Fellow Dai Qing lauds Canadian documentary Up the Yangtze for revealing the human cost of the Three Gorges dam.
Probe International asks Canadian government to provide legal aid to Three Gorges dam victims
(February 13, 2008) Probe International is urging the Canadian government to set up a legal aid fund for the dam’s victims. Many of the people displaced by the dam were not given adequate compensation for their losses — others were even jailed or beaten for exposing corrupt officials.
A French Water Company’s Cautionary Tale in China
(February 11, 2008) Suez Group, a global player in water treatment projects, is shying away from China’s impoverished northeast after a joint venture in Siping turned bad.
Mekong River: Bank erosion worsens in Laos
(February 9, 2008) Massive erosion along the Mekong River has forced a number of families in Laos’ Bonkeo province to move and the situation is getting worse, according to Vientiane Times.
Patricia Adams
Dai Qing
Fan Xiao
Lawrence Solomon
Mu Lan
Probe International
Lisa Peryman
Probe Media
Other News Sources
Probe International 